Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our User Agreement and Privacy Policy.

Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. If you continue browsing the site, you agree to the use of cookies on this website. See our Privacy Policy and User Agreement for details.

iDirect: White Paper - Maritime

1.
Maritime VSATCommunications SolutionsJune 2010

2.
IntroductionAcross the maritime industry, there is a growing trend toward IP-based applications and a need to stayconnected with land-based operations. Commercial vessels require high-speed connections to runonboard business, maintain vessel management and maintenance applications as well as provide theircrew Internet and VoIP connectivity to retain their talents.For years, narrowband L-Band services with usage-based plans were the only communication solutiononboard vessels forcing expensive tradeoffs and inadequate connectivity. In recent years, VSATtechnologies more adequately addressed the demand for always-on broadband access and, as aresult, have been adopted rapidly -- fueled by reduced antenna prices and sizes.Particularly shared bandwidth platforms are in high demand, providing an affordable, yet reliableservice, which is critical in a market dominated by small- to mid-sized fleets.This whitepaper takes a closer look at how technology advances in the maritime VSAT industry canhelp service providers offer high-speed, affordable broadband service at sea for the needs of today’svessel operators, shipping lines and yacht owners. 1. Bandwidth EfficienciesTraditionally, transporting voice and data services over VSAT has been provided through SingleChannel Per Carrier (SCPC) technology creating a continuously connected environment similar to adedicated private line circuit. Using SCPC to support high-speed, enterprise-grade connectivityonboard the ship can be costly and inefficient since each connection needs to be over-dimensioned toguarantee reliable connectivity even in worst-case scenarios. By comparison, IP-based Time DivisionMultiple Access (TDMA) systems dynamically allocate bandwidth to each ship over a shared platform,significantly reducing the required satellite bandwidth without compromising quality.The iDirect system incorporates a very efficient form of TDMA, called Multi-Frequency (MF),deterministic TDMA (D-TDMA), which allows multiple ships to share the same inbound capacity. Thisindustry-leading MF D-TDMA protocol guarantees fast response times and is known for the dynamicnature in which a network can be designed to meet a variety of service level agreements (SLAs). TheiDirect system allocates bandwidth to each site based on traffic demand and service provider-imposedQoS restrictions. The system constantly analyzes demand at all satellite routers and allocatesbandwidth as frequently as eight times per second. This type of architecture is ideal for networks thathave bursty TCP/IP traffic and which also support real-time traffic such as VoIP, video conferencingand mission critical applications that securely link the onboard communications network with the13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -2-

3.
shipping company’s terrestrial IP network.The iDirect system allows remotes to hop between inbound channels based on traffic demand.iDirect’s MF-TDMA provides fast frequency hopping on a burst-by-burst basis and provides the highestefficiency in capacity usage and allocation.iDirect was one of the pioneers of Turbo Product Coding (TPC), a forward error correction (FEC)scheme for the inbound/return channel that improves link performance and reduces latency. TPCFEC is based on an iterative decoding technique, which recycles partially decoded messages throughthe process. For the remote, this translates into a reduced need for retransmission, and allows formore efficient use of satellite bandwidth. The wide range of FEC options iDirect supports also allowsservice providers to keep antenna sizes onboard the ships to a minimum and guarantee availabilityand bandwidth efficiency regardless of the ship’s location within the satellite beam.For very large scale networks service providers can take advantage of even more efficient bandwidthtechnologies such as iDirect’s DVB-S2 with Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM). DVB-S2 uses anew forward-error coding technology, Low-Density Parity-check Codes (LDPC) coupled with BCHcoding resulting in over 30% bandwidth efficiency improvements over DVB-S. The DVB-S2 standardalso incorporates new modulation and FEC schemes, supporting QPSK, 8PSK and 16APSKmodulations on the DVB-S2 downstream and ACM. iDirect’s ACM enables each ship’s router tooperate at its most efficient coding and modulation scheme, at any time, depending on location withinthe satellite beam and weather conditions resulting in additional bandwidth efficiencies. 2. Guaranteed High Quality of ServiceVessel operators need access to broadband IP applications to run their operations more efficiently andto seamlessly connect ships to shore, extending the shipping lines terrestrial IP network to the highseas. With VSAT connectivity, shipping lines can support a range of communication needs. Crew canuse Web, e-mail and phone to stay close with friends and family, manage personal affairs and enjoyentertainment content. Vessels become mobile offices with VPNs covering entire fleets and supportingbusiness applications such as cargo and inventory logistics. Ship operations benefit from instantcommunications with technicians, vendors and other skilled workers to address issues in real-time.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -3-

4.
Because of the dynamic nature of shared platforms, the challenge for service providers is to managethe traffic prioritization of these different applications in order to guarantee a reliable service.Within the iDirect platform, service providers can assign Committed Information Rates (CIR), aMinimum Information Rate and a Maximum Information Rate to each ship. The Maximum InformationRate is to be shared amongst all other ships on the network; this allows for a very cost-effectivesolution at the remote site without compromising quality and availability.Group Quality of Service (GQoS), iDirect’s award-winning bandwidth allocation algorithm, allows forcountless possibilities of service levels, bandwidth management and traffic prioritization. GQoSenables the construction of very sophisticated allocation models and allows service providers tosegment the bandwidth pool into distinct bandwidth groups to support multiple shipping fleets eachwith separate CIRs, MIRs and contention ratios. Service providers can establish customized ServiceLevel Agreements (SLAs) across different fleets and even tailor them to the real-time needs ofindividual applications onboard. To the service provider the advantages of shared bandwidth result inmore space segment savings and cost efficiencies on dedicated line cards, RF power and antennasizes onboard the ship.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -4-

5.
Support for real-time applicationsIn addition to sophisticated QoS profiles there are other factors that improve quality of real-timeapplications. Providing toll-quality VoIP in a satellite environment can be challenging when faced withlatency and jitter. Latency of geostationary satellites is fixed with a one-way propagation delay of 280msec. Jitter, the variation of delayed packet arrival, is in strong correlation with insufficient bandwidthand results in degradation of voice quality. When a network system allocates bandwidth to a ship’sremote to support a voice call, if the allocated timeslots are contiguous, the voice packets will arrive atthe hub in batches creating an environment conducive to jitter. iDirect overcomes this problem bysupporting feathering. iDirect’s feathering feature significantly reduces jitter between voice packets byevenly spacing timeslots across a frame.iDirect’s solution is ideally suited for delivering high quality VoIP and cellular applications since it candeliver Bit-Error-Rates (BER), the quality measure of voice quality, of better than 10-9, which isconsidered clear channel transmission.Other features like SAR, Dynamic CIR, application-triggered CIR and VLAN tagging are also importantwhen designing QoS prioritization for real-time traffic handling. SAR divides packets of varying sizesinto equal sized cells, whereas Dynamic CIR can be dynamically controlled. Application-triggered CIRis dedicated bandwidth allocated to the ship’s router only when voice traffic is present.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -5-

6.
Support for end-to-end VLANs (802.1Q) or VLAN tagging allows for improved performance and flexiblenetwork segmentation by enabling the prioritization of sensitive packets over other applicationsonboard. Since each iDirect router can have multiple VLAN IDs associated with it, important voice callsfrom the bridge can be prioritized over private voice calls from the crew.Support for non real-time applicationsJust like real-time applications, non-real time applications such as Web browsing can also suffer undersatellite latency, leading to inefficient retransmissions and longer download times. To improve the Webperformance for the end-user, iDirect uses TCP acceleration built into the hub and routers to mitigatethe effects of satellite latency while guaranteeing packet delivery in the event of data corruption or loss.TCP acceleration performs this task by buffering packets in the outbound and inbound directionsupporting a highly responsive network of web applications.For heavy Web browsing applications, iDirect features additional Web acceleration for a variety oftraffic including HTTP, AJAX, and XML applications, through built-in Acceleration-on-Demandtechnologies. These technologies deliver improved response time and bandwidth utilization whilereducing data loads and providing end-to-end data security.Support for secure applicationsAn important feature for business applications and data sharing in the shipping industry is the ability toguarantee highly secure links. Therefore, it is important that the system allows for encryption ofsensitive information on both transmit and receive. The industry standard of secure data transmissionis the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) that uses algorithms in symmetric key cryptography.iDirect AES Encryption comes with fast, dynamic key exchange of 256-bit providing a very high level ofsecurity within the network, without compromising acceleration performed on TCP traffic within the link.This is unlike other IPSec architectures that defeat TCP acceleration and thus are subject to severethroughput issues.For military grade security iDirect has implemented TRANSEC and high encryption with FIPS 140-2certification on its product line as well. TRANSEC is a military-grade transmission security standardthat prevents an adversary from exploiting information in the dynamic data exchange between a huband a remote.VLAN’s can also be used to improve the network security by serving as a logical boundary that locksout intruders. Another form of data security is the encryption through GRE tunneling. GRE tunnels aredesigned to encapsulate a wide variety of network layer packets inside the IP tunneling packets. It isused to secure Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), creating a virtual point-to-point link with routers atremote points.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -6-

7.
If the organization needs to use external encryption for any security reason, iDirect’s external NetworkAccelerator product line allows a network to use their own external encryption and security devices,while at the same time providing TCP/HTTP acceleration and Application QoS. The iDirect NetworkAccelerator product line provides line rate throughputs on TCP and HTTP performance. 3. Scalable Network ExpansionThe iDirect solution provides one of the most scalable, flexible and bandwidth-efficient two-way IPbroadband network solutions in the industry. iDirect enables service providers to operate on multiplesatellites, multiple transponders and multiple topologies simultaneously, allowing them to flexibly builda network by adding new line cards and remote satellite routers as business scales. Space segmentcan be added gradually, starting with data rates as small as 128 kbps, and does not need to becontiguous, leaving maximum flexibility in a bandwidth-constrained satellite market.The flexibility and scalability of the iDirect product line allows the service provider to deploy tailoredtopologies and configurations to support the specific needs of different maritime segments. iDirect’swide range of FECs and modulations provide more options to service providers when designing theirnetworks with line cards, routers and antennas. Specifically, when targeting the smaller vessel marketand super-yachts, small antenna sizes are critical. Service providers can keep antenna sizes to aminimum by taking advantage of the various FEC options iDirect supports, ranging from the robust0.495 FEC to the more efficient 0.879 FEC. Furthermore, the various modulation options, including16APSK with DVB-S2, BPSK and Spread Spectrum, also allow for a cost-effective network design withvery small antennas. The Spread Spectrum is a new waveform that enables the spreading of thecarrier signal so that during transmission and receiving the power levels of very small antennas do notcause satellite interference with adjacent satellites.For service providers looking to launch a maritime broadband service with minimal upfront investmentin infrastructure, a highly scalable approach is iDirect’s Virtual Network Operator (VNO) model. Thismodel allows service providers to lease hub space from existing hub operators, Host NetworkOperators (HNO). With a VNO access license, service providers have full control over their networksand remotes through their own dedicated Network Management System (NMS). For hub owners thisfeature is advantageous since it allows them to expand business and accelerate return on investmentthrough hosting capabilities.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -7-

8.
4. Ease of Network ManagementBecause of the challenges of managing a large fleet of remotes that are inaccessible at most times,service providers need a management system that will configure, upgrade and monitor the health ofthe ship’s communication services at all times. iDirect’s iVantage Network Management System (NMS)is a complete suite of easy to use tools for monitoring, configuring and control of the entire satellitenetwork from one central place. Service providers can rapidly create networks of any size withautomated and semi-automated tools and can upgrade networks automatically without site visits.Service providers gain in-depth views into both real-time and historical performance of the network,including the health status of any remote with details on temperature, uptime, LAN port status andtransmit power. Furthermore, it naturally anticipates potential network outages with automatic alertsand warnings that minimize troubleshooting time or could avoid network downtime.Another powerful tool for network monitoring is a spectrum analyzer, useful for instant monitoring andtroubleshooting. iDirect’s SkyMonitor is a fully integrated spectrum analyzer integrated with iVantage. Itcan monitor multiple satellite carriers through up to eight always-connected L-band interfaces. Serviceproviders can easily view the real-time spectrum of transmit and receive carriers and also connectSkyMonitor ports to display non-iDirect hub carriers within the same teleport. A powerful record andstore capability creates a file containing a spectral display for post analysis. When used in conjunctionwith iMonitor standard features, SkyMonitor allows a network operator or engineer simultaneousanalysis of RF and IP layers for improved troubleshooting capabilities. 5. Global Network Management with Seamless CoverageFor multi-regional, seasonal and global shipping lines such as cargo vessels, cruises and yachts,global connectivity and seamless coverage are a critical driver. Customers want to rely on the sameuser experience they would get from traditional landline networks without the geographic constraints.Providing global coverage requires a seamless operation of several C- or Ku-Band beams, multiplehubs and teleports. iDirect has developed several features that allow service providers to manage aglobal network delivering to their customers seamless and effortless global connectivity.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -8-

9.
Global NMSIn a scenario where the ship’s course crosses several satellite beams, networks, teleports and hubs,the remote on the ship can be managed by one Global Network Management System (NMS).Global NMS allows service providers to monitor and manage each ship’s remote from a singlelocation, ensuring a consistent connection as it passes through separate networks around the world.This is made possible because Global NMS allows every remote to have multiple instances in hubsand teleports around the globe, but identified by a fixed global IP address.Automatic Beam SelectionWhether in a Ku-Band or C-Band network, multiple regions means using multiple satellite beams arerequired to provide continuous coverage to the ship. In the past when a satellite beam switch isimminent, intervention from the NOC or an onboard technician was required to manually re-point theantenna to acquire the new satellite beam and to make the router tune to a new outbound carrier.iDirect’s Automatic Beam Switching (ABS) eliminates the need for manual intervention. The ship’srouter reads the current location from the antenna’s GPS and decides what beam will provide optimalperformance for that location based on the map server information located at the hub. The beam mapfile is a large data file containing beam quality information for each point on the earths surface.Depending on signal quality and location, the router either will remain in the current beam orautomatically switch to a higher quality beam. The fact that the router (and not the NMS) selects abeam is critical because the router must be able to select a beam even if it is not communicating withthe network. With ABS there will be no intervention necessary from the ship or the Network OperationCenter (NOC), to allow the continuous delivery of communication services around the globe.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net -9-

10.
Location TrackingThe web-based Location Tracking package available with SatManage supports real-time tracking of allremotes worldwide on an easy and powerful graphical mapping system. The Location Tracker showsprecise location and summary data for individual mobile assets or entire groups or fleets of remotes.The color-coded health status of individual remotes and exact location and heading of the terminalscan be checked at regular intervals. Through pop-up windows, all live and historical indicators,including lat/long data, Radio Frequency (RF) and IP performance is displayed. Available in both 2Dand 3D interactive versions, the location tracker allows for real-time overlay of external data sourcesincluding weather, radar, roadmap, satellite footprint, imagery or other custom overlays. Also, themodule has a built-in database that displays out-of-transmission coastal or embargo areas. When amobile VSAT terminal enters one of these areas the Location Tracker will raise a variety of alerts.The Location Tracker allows a real-time snapshot of the health, status and exact location of eachremote. This simplifies the control of the customer’s mobile assets.Multi-HomingThe Multi-homing system provides users with the ability to seamlessly track remotes to readily identifyproblems. The Multi-homing system displays a unified view of a remote’s performance data regardlessof which network the remote currently resides. As a result, each remote has a complete history ofreports which simplifies issue tracking for beam switches and multiple network configuration conflicts.The Multi-homing system eases fault finding for highly mobile remotes. This lends to reduceddowntimes, improved overall performance, and cost savings.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net - 10 -

11.
6. VSAT Maritime EquipmentVSAT systems on a vessel consist of a remote router connected to a stabilized VSAT antenna. Theantenna connects to the teleport, hub and backbone onshore via C- or Ku-band. In an iDirect network,the hub consists of a universal hub chassis and individual line cards that can be added as businessgrows. iVantage, iDirect’s NMS, controls the entire network from a single location.Onboard the ship the below-deck equipment typically consists of an iDirect Evolution X5 Router or aniNFINITI 5000 Series Router equipped with an eight-port switch and GPS input. The iNFINITI 5000Series Router connects to the ship’s LAN enabling VoIP, cellular, data and video applications. Whichmodel is the correct fit depends on the exact customer requirements and network design.Antenna AgnosticiDirect’s platform works well with the majority of the stabilized antenna systems, therefore the serviceprovider can choose any antenna model.However, when implementing Automatic Beam Switching (ABS) the antenna needs to have additionalfeatures in order to ensure that the iDirect router is able to control the antenna for automatic re-pointing. The antenna system, more specifically the antenna control unit (ACU), must work well withiDirect’s interfaces such as hardware flow control and GPS input in order to communicate with theiDirect router over the local LAN.In order to standardize the communication between the ship’s router and the antenna’s ACU, iDirecthas developed an open-source standard called OpenAMIP that several antenna manufacturers areintegrating as part of their antenna system. All ACU’s that have adopted the OpenAMIP standard areguaranteed to work with iDirect’s Automatic Beam Switching feature.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net - 11 -

12.
ConclusionThe number of vessels enabled with VSAT technology will increase by more than 400 percent through2012, according to the Comsys Maritime VSAT Report and, as the market leader in maritime TDMAnetworks, iDirect is helping spur this growth. The many submarkets all have different needs rangingfrom large office bandwidth applications in the global seas to supporting ultra-small antennas onregional super yachts and increased passenger cellular traffic on cruise ships. Service providers needto offer cost-efficient services with customized SLA’s and seamless coverage. Whatever theoperational challenges that are faced, iDirect’s scalable platform and advanced maritime featuresenable regional and global service providers of all sizes overcome these challenges and capitalize onthe growing opportunities in the maritime industry.13865 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA 20171Tel: +1 703.648.8000 +1 866.345.0983 • www.idirect.net - 12 -